Most people just hate Mondays. This year, our second anniversary fell on a Monday, and we spent it at the beach! Best Monday ever! But before beach time, we started the day with a gorgeous run!

Not a bad view on a morning run! That’s the lighthouse that protects boats from Kalapaki Beach, where we would be spending our day. It rained every day we were in Kauai, but as you can see from the picture, the sun was out in full force most of the day! The frequent rain makes the island gorgeous and the colors of the flowers vibrant. It also helps the mornings be cool and perfect for a morning run!

The rest of the morning was spent finding breakfast at a nearby restaurant with an ocean view and relaxing on the beach. Most of our trips are jam-packed with things to see and places to go, so for each anniversary, we decided to pick an island and make time to sit on the beach and relax. I even took a nap that day!

And then we got a visit from a rooster! The roosters, hens, and baby chicks are everywhere! They are an invasive species, but like everything else on Kauai, they thrive here! They roam around free–well, free as a bird!

After a rousing morning of swimming in the ocean and laying out in the sun, we decided to find some lunch. There’s a pie place called The Right Slice just down the street from the hotel, so we set out to find it! We didn’t realize we should have called ahead for savory pies, so we put in an order when we got there and went out to explore a bit. When we came back our pies were ready (savory AND sweet!), and we went back to the hotel to eat them with the best view:

Enchanting!

After a bit much food, we decided it was high time for a bit of an exploration. We could see the light house, but how could we get to it? Let’s find out, shall we?

We wound our way around the hotel and up a hill, past a row of townhouses with spectacular Hawaiian views, and hopped the gate to a golf course! Ok, we didn’t exactly “hop” it, but walk around it. Down a set of makeshift steps we went, stumbled our way through a “path” of sorts, and ended up here:

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And look over there!

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There is another light house in the distance, but it was too far to capture with my camera.

Then it was back to the resort for pool time until bedtime! So tell me, how do you spend a relaxing day on vacation? Are you like us and it’s rare to take time to just relax and enjoy some quiet time? Or are you the type who craves those silent seaside moments?